II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 999 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent the enforcement of certain 

national primary drinking water regulations unless sufficient funding 

is available. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 16, 2011 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. VITTER, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. 

RISCH, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent the enforcement of certain national primary drinking water 

regulations unless sufficient funding is available. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small System Safe 

5 Drinking Water Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT. 

7 (a) GUIDANCE.—Section 1412(b)(4)(E) of the Safe 

8 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g–1(b)(4)(E)) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(vi) GUIDANCE.—As soon as prac2 ticable after the date of enactment of this 

3 clause, the Administrator shall— 

4 ‘‘(I) convene a working group 

5 composed of representatives from 

6 States, small publicly owned water 

7 systems, and treatment manufactur8 ers, which shall, not later than 180 

9 days after the date of enactment of 

10 this clause, conduct a study of, and 

11 submit to Congress a report on, bar12 riers to the use of point-of-use and 

13 point-of-entry treatment units, pack14 age plants (including water bottled by 

15 the public water system), and modular 

16 units; 

17 ‘‘(II) develop a model guidance 

18 document based on recommendations 

19 received from the working group 

20 under subclause (I) and similar State 

21 guidance documents for distribution 

22 to States to assist States in regulating 

23 and promoting the treatment options 

24 described in subclause (I); and 


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1 ‘‘(III) distribute to small water 

2 systems— 

3 ‘‘(aa) the model guidance 

4 document developed under sub5 clause (II); and 

6 ‘‘(bb) such other information 

7 relating to the treatment options 

8 described in subclause (I) as the 

9 Administrator considers to be ap10 propriate.’’. 

11 (b) ENFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL PRIMARY DRINK12 ING WATER REGULATIONS.— 

13 (1) VARIANCE TECHNOLOGIES.—Section 

14 1412(b)(15)(A) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 300g–1(b)(15)(A)) is amended— 

16 (A) by redesignating clauses (i) through 

17 (iii) as subclauses (I) through (III), respec18 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At 

20 the’’ and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) TECHNOLOGIES.— 

22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the’’; and 

23 (C) by adding after the matter following 

24 subparagraph (A)(i)(III) (as redesignated by 

25 subparagraph (A)) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(ii) AFFORDABILITY.—In estab2 lishing affordability criteria under this sub3 paragraph, the Administrator shall— 

4 ‘‘(I) in determining whether a 

5 treatment technology or treatment 

6 technique is affordable, include con7 sideration of costs associated with 

8 complying with all relevant regulations 

9 promulgated in accordance with this 

10 Act and the Federal Water Pollution 

11 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) 

12 with which a municipality or small 

13 public water system may be required 

14 to comply; 

15 ‘‘(II) give extra weight to house16 holds the total income of which is 

17 below the poverty level, and to com18 munities that meet the affordability 

19 criteria of a State established in ac20 cordance with section 

21 1452(b)(3)(A)(iii), as determined by 

22 the Administrator; and 

23 ‘‘(III) ensure that the afford24 ability criteria are not more costly, on 

25 a per-capita basis, to a small public 


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1 water system than the cost, on a per2 capita basis, to a large water system 

3 of acquiring feasible technology de4 scribed in paragraph (4).’’. 

5 (2) STATE REVOLVING LOAN FUNDS.—Section 

6 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 300j–12) is amended— 

8 (A) by redesignating subsections (n), (o), 

9 (p), (q), and (r) as subsection (o), (p), (q), (r), 

10 and (s) respectively; and 

11 (B) by inserting after subsection (m) the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(n) ENFORCEMENT.—Before initiating any enforce14 ment action, the Administrator or the State shall ensure 

15 that sufficient funds have been made available under this 

16 title to assist each public water system that serves fewer 

17 than 10,000 individuals in meeting requirements under 

18 the regulation.’’. 

19 (c) RENEWAL OF EXEMPTION.—Section 1416(b)(2) 

20 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g–5(b)(2)) 

21 is amended by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(C) In the case of a system that does not 

24 serve more than a population of 10,000 and 

25 that needs financial assistance for the necessary 


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1 improvements, an exemption granted under 

2 clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (B) may be 

3 renewed for such period as the State determines 

4 to be appropriate, if the system establishes that 

5 it is taking all practicable steps to meet the re6 quirements of subparagraph (B).’’. 

7 (d) RESEARCH, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, INFORMA8 TION, AND TRAINING OF PERSONNEL.—Section 1442 of 

9 the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–1) is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (e)— 

12 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The 

13 Administrator’’ and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator’’; 

15 (B) in the second sentence, by striking 

16 ‘‘Such assistance’’ and inserting the following: 

17 ‘‘(2) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—Assistance pro18 vided under paragraph (1)’’; 

19 (C) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘The 

20 Administrator’’ and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Ad22 ministrator’’; 

23 (D) in the fourth sentence, by striking 

24 ‘‘Each nonprofit’’ and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(4) CONSULTATION WITH STATE.—Each non2 profit’’; and 

3 (E) by striking the fifth sentence and all 

4 that follows through the end of the subsection 

5 and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(5) ASSISTANCE IN COMPLYING WITH

7 RULES.—The Administrator shall ensure, to the 

8 maximum extent practicable, that each water system 

9 serving fewer than 10,000 individuals that is re10 quired to comply with Federal drinking water rules 

11 receives adequate technical assistance and training 

12 to meet the requirements of those final rules, includ13 ing through assistance to be provided by qualified 

14 nonprofit associations with expertise in public water 

15 systems. 

16 ‘‘(6) PRIORITY.—The Administrator shall give 

17 priority for assistance under this section to water 

18 systems that, as of the date of enactment of this 

19 paragraph, are not in compliance with, as deter20 mined by the Administrator— 

21 ‘‘(A) the final rule entitled ‘Disinfectants 

22 and Disinfection Byproducts’ and published by 

23 the Administrator on December 16, 1998 (63 

24 Fed. Reg. 69390); 


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1 ‘‘(B) the final rule entitled ‘Arsenic and 

2 Clarifications to Compliance and New Source 

3 Contaminants Monitoring’ and published by the 

4 Administrator on January 22, 2001 (66 Fed. 

5 Reg. 6976); 

6 ‘‘(C) the final rule entitled ‘Stage 2 Dis7 infectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule’ 

8 and published by the Administrator on January 

9 4, 2006 (71 Fed. Reg. 388); 

10 ‘‘(D) the final rule entitled ‘Ground Water 

11 Rule’ and published by the Administrator on 

12 November 8, 2006 (71 Fed. Reg. 65574); and 

13 ‘‘(E) any other final rule promulgated by 

14 the Administrator after the date of enactment 

15 of this paragraph. 

16 ‘‘(7) ENFORCEMENT ACTION.—Before initiating 

17 any enforcement action, the Administrator or the 

18 State shall ensure that sufficient funds have been 

19 made available under this title to assist each public 

20 water system that serves fewer than 10,000 individ21 uals in meeting requirements under the regulation.’’; 

22 and 

23 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(f) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PILOT

25 PROJECTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es2 tablish a research pilot program (referred to in this 

3 subsection as the ‘program’) to explore new tech4 nologies or approaches that public water systems 

5 may use to comply with a public drinking water 

6 standard promulgated under this Act. 

7 ‘‘(2) RESPONSIBILITIES OF ADMINISTRATOR.— 

8 In carrying out this subsection, the Administrator 

9 shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) establish an application process that 

11 includes criteria that may be used to assess 

12 water systems applying for participation in the 

13 program; 

14 ‘‘(B) based on applications received under 

15 subparagraph (A), select 20 communities with 

16 various populations and water sources in dif17 ferent regions of the United States for partici18 pation in the program; 

19 ‘‘(C) fund projects that develop or imple20 ment new technologies or approaches for imple21 mentation of Federal drinking water standards; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(D) coordinate projects with the Arsenic 

24 Water Technology Partnership program of the 

25 Department of Energy. 


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1 ‘‘(3) TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND DISINFEC2 TION STRATEGIES.—The Administrator shall carry 

3 out a pilot program to conduct research into tech4 nology transfer issues and disinfection strategies re5 lating to drinking water, including risks associated 

6 with the migration to chloramines for the purpose of 

7 water disinfection. 

8 ‘‘(4) FUNDING.— 

9 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA10 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

11 to carry out this subsection and subsection (e) 

12 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

13 through 2015. 

14 ‘‘(B) LOBBYING EXPENSES.—No portion 

15 of any State revolving loan fund established 

16 under section 1452, and no portion of any 

17 funds made available under this subsection, 

18 may be used for lobbying expenses. 

19 ‘‘(C) TRIBAL ASSISTANCE.—Of the amount 

20 made available under subparagraph (A) for a 

21 fiscal year, at least 3 percent shall be used for 

22 technical assistance to public water systems 

23 owned or operated by Indian Tribes.’’. 

Æ 


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